Mailbox supports



May 12, 1959 R; UTIGER MAIL-BOX SUPPORTS Fi1ed Nov.. 12,.1952

IN VEN TOR. Z 144,1 077 E BY W,

F m A ram/E Y5 Un d Sta s, Patent MAILBOX SUPPORTS v I Ralph Utiger, Delavan, Wis. Application November 12, 1952, Serial No. 319,949

Claims. (Cl. 248- 128) My invention relates to improvements in mailbox supports.

Although it has been quite common practice to mount a rural mailbox-on anoutstanding aim or boom supported by a post orother fixed support oifset from the highway and to connect the outstanding arm swingably tothe: fixed support upon a pintle angularly disposed with reference to the vertical, such outstanding arms for support of the mailbox are inclined to swing in the wind, or if a detent is provided, to tend to fix the position of the arm in the lowermost position of its swing. The detent operation is jerky and has a tendency to loosen the post or other fixed support. To meet this problem, I have provided a mailbox mounting and support which, although swingable to and from a horizontal outstanding position against a stop, is constructed so that an inherent braking action protects my mailbox support from shock.

' In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of my mailbox support and a portion of a roadway (shown somewhat schematically in vertical section), the support and mailbox being shown in full lines in normal position and being shown in dotted lines in fully retracted position.

Fig. 2 is a view at right angles to the view shown in Fig. 1 and taken from a point of view on the highway, an additional view of the mailbox and supporting arm being shown in dotted lines to illustrate the position in which the damping action occurs to slow the descending swinging motion of the boom.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of my mailbox support in its normal outstanding position, the boom and the mailbox being foreshortened and the fixed supporting post being partially broken away. 7

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the mailbox and supporting structure shown in Fig. 3, portions of the boom being broken away to show the mounting of the mailbox to the boom and the attachment of the boom to the bracket.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 3 to show the pendular mounting of the box with reference to the boom, the bolt and its rigidly attached parts being shown in elevation.

As has been explained in previously issued patents relating to rural mailbox supports, various swingable boom supports heretofore have been provided so that snowplows or other roadside maintenance equipment moving along the margins of highways will not displace or destory the mailbox support and the highway maintenance crews need not be forced to detour at each mailbox location. An accepted type of these mailbox supports has included some form of fixed support such as a post located somewhat to one side of the shoulder of the highway where there is little likelihood that projecting parts of a highway maintenance vehicle or device will contact it. To this fixed support, a swingable boom in normally horizontal position extends to a point adjacent the nearest lane for vehicular trafi'ic and the mailbox mounted on the boom is within easy access for the mailman. However, in the event that a snowplow is operated 2,886,272 Patented May 12, 1959' along the shoulder of the road to push a windrow of snow some distance to the side of the travelled way, the mailbox is swingable with the boom to permit the pushing aside of the boom and box when it is contacted either by the plow itself or by the snow pushed by the plow.

In my improved mailbox support as shown in the drawings, the fixed support is preferably a 4 x 4 post 10 properly treated to withstand the rigors of weather and insects and erected some distance to the side of the road as shown in Fig. 1, where a concrete highway ribbon-11 has its longitudinal edge 12 flanked by the shoulder 13 and the usual drainage ditch 14. 3

To the fixed support or post 10, I attach the hardware comprising my mailbox support. This includes a bracket 15 secured to the post 10 by lag screws or bolts 16. ,Ihe bracket includes a plate 17 shaped for application against the side face of the post 10, and two pintle supporting ears 18 and 19, respectively. These ears are bored at such an angle that a pintle 20 extending through them is 45 from the vertical, assuming that the plate 17. has been accurately applied to a vertically disposed post. Upon the pintle 20, I swingably mount the arm or boom 25 which I have made of channel shape as shown in Fig. 5. At the end of the boom 25 for attachment to the pintle 20, I secure two angle plates 26 and 27 so shaped and so drilled to receive the pintle 20 that the boom is supported in normal horizontal position when it takes its position as shown in full lines in Figs. 1, 3 and 4. In this position, it will be noted that the angle plates 26 and 27 support the side of the boom 25 in abutment against the plate 17 which acts as a stop to prevent the boom and its attached brackets 26--27 from moving through an arc greater than While the boom and its brackets are rigidly and strongly constructed, I have additionally provided a tension member 28 provided with an eye at 29 to receive the pintle 20 and a hook at 30 to be received through an aperture at 31 in the boom 25.

It will be noted that the channel of the boom 25 is open downwardly, and it will be especially noted that the mailbox supported by the boom is pendularly attached to the boom. The mailbox is shown at 35 and is usually made of sheet metal in sizes such as 23" x 13" x 10" wide, or in a smaller standardized size 17 x 7" x 6%" wide. Along the top central longitudinal line of the box, I provide two or more bolts 36 the heads 37 of which abut the top surface of the boom 25. The shanks of the bolts extend through apertures 38 which are substantially larger than the shanks of the bolts so as to permit a fairly free swinging movement of the mailbox laterally of the boom as will be apparent from an examination of Fig. 5. To secure the bolts to the mailbox 35, I provide an upper nut 39, suitably shaped washers 40, and a lower nut 41 to clamp the body of the mailbox 35 between the washers snugly.

From the above description, it will be seen that the normal position of the box and its boom will be that shown in full lines in Figs. 1 and 2 and in Fig. 4. By gravity, the boom will be in its lowermost position with the side of the boom abutting the plate 17. If some motive force thrusts the mailbox and the boom to the position shown at 45 in Fig. 2, or to the position shown in dotted lines at 46 in Figs. 1 and 2, the motion is that following a half of a cone, the top swing being limited the. plate at the lowermost extent of this swinging. motion would be accompanied" by a severe shock tending to rotate the post about its vertical axis. However, the actual performance of a mailbox support made in accord with the above description is not accompanied by destructive impact andtorquez While I have a theory of operation which explains this phenomenon, I can only state the facts whichare apparent from my observation of thephysical operation of my device. When the mailbox leaves the position shown at 46, Figs. 1 and 2, its swingingmotionfollowsthe expected acceleration of the relatively heavy mailbox and boom. This acceleration progresses until the box is approximately in the position shown at 45 in Fig. 2', when it appears that the box swings upon the pendular support of the bolts 36 and imparts a vibration to the boom. At this stage in the swinging motion, the descent appears to be braked, and instead of a continued acceleration, the box and the boom" are slowed in their motion and they approach the stop position shown in Figs. 3 and 4 with what might be'd'escribed as a cushioned stop. Thus while the box and boom are not prevented in any way from swinging in the intended direction, and they return without shock tothe lowermost position by gravity, there is no need for 'detcnts in any position of adjustment of the boom and I havefound that the pendular support of the mailboxis such that any normal Wind will only swing the box quietly upon the bolts 36 and will not cause the boom to swing away from the plate at all.

I'clairn:

1. Ina mailbox support having a swingable boom provided with a mounting shaped to guide the boom in a laterally and upwardly swinging motion, a mailbox and a connection between the mailbox and the boom providing pendular mounting for the box.

' 2. In a deviceof the character described, a fixed support, a plate secured to one side of said support and provided with pintle receiving ears disposed to hold a pintle at approximately a angle to the vertical, a boom having pintle connections shaped to hold the boom in a lowermost horizontal position and laterally swingable about the pintle to an uppermost erect position, and a mailbox mounted to an extended portion of the boom with pendular connections between the box and boom.

3. The combination with a fixed support and a boom laterally extended therefrom, of a mounting for the boom providing connection to the support to normally dispose the boom in a horizontal position, said mounting including connections for lateral and upward swinging movement of the boom, and a mailbox beneath the boom and having a plurality of connections to the boom for pendular support of the box.

4. The device of claim 2 in which the mailbox is elongated and is positioned beneath the boom, there being a plurality of said pendular connections at spaced. points along the longitudinal dimension of the boom and mailbox.

5. In a mailbox support having a swingable boom provided with a mounting shaped to guide the boom in a lateral and upward motion, a mailbox connection between the mailbox and the boom, said connection being shaped to provide pendular motion of the box with respect to the boom in a direction lateral of the boom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

